The Folly of Pride
by X59
Summary: Pride is the greatest of all sins an in the end the inability for someone to admit when they are wrong can costs them all that matters.


The gang though that they would united forever, from the first battle to the end of time. They were present for the good and the bad. They rallied around Aelita as she dealt with her grief, they helped William come to terms with all that happened to him and though saddened were not truly surprised when he left them all behind in an attempt to get a fresh start, they attended each other's weddings, and all found time to wait in the waiting room when Aelita and Yumi went through their respective labors. Not once do they consider that the happiest moments of their lives would drive them apart.

Two year old Terrence Belpois is indirectly responsible the breaking of the friendship between Jeremy and Ulrich and Yumi. He's young, curious about the new baby, the son of his Uncle Ulrich's and Aunt Yumi. In a moment of carelessness on Aelita's part he gets his little hands on nail polish and out of pure curiosity he dumps it on four month Selim Stern.

The parents are frantic and though Selim turns out to be perfectly fine, in the end the damage has been done. For all Aelita was full of sincerity and the adults understanding that Terry was simply too young to understand, it is Jeremy who creates the foundation of the break. He's always been awkward and is unwilling, in truth unable, to accept that damage that his son could have caused and thus treats it as a boys as boys situation. His inability to admit fault about himself has transferred to his son and Ulrich simply becomes uncomfortable, wary, with the idea of precious little Selim being around someone who shrugged off the damage that could have been inflicted on his son.

It is Yumi who lingers, her deep friendship with Aelita counting balance her issues with Jeremy. Then Jeremy gets offended, gets angry, and has the gall to act like Ulrich doesn't have a point in the matter. In turn Yumi becomes offended on Ulrich's behalf and enraged what she sees as Jeremy's indifferent towards her son. Despite all the signs and the brotherly bond between Ulrich and Odd Jeremy is blindsided when Odd confronts him. Part of this is because Jeremy still has hangs about being in the wrong, the idea of not being in the right vexing him, and because Odd had been a voice of reason for both parties in getting both to understand Ulrich's drive to be a better father than his own and that Jeremy couldn't stomach the idea that his son could be responsible for hurting someone.

Having Odd in Jeremy's face causes Jeremy to lash out, words are thrown that can't be taken back, Aelita fails to keep the peace, and suddenly the last fragment of a bond he had with Ulrich evaporates in the wind and the suddenness of Yumi's and Odd's departure feels like they had been cut from his life with a sharp knife.

The situation naturally creates tension between Jeremy and Aelita but they are able to make it work. Jeremy doesn't asks and pretends like the others don't exists to hide his pain and the others take this at face value unable to see beyond his seemingly indifference and Aelita doesn't know how to make them understand because on some level she doesn't understand herself. It soon becomes a mute point as Aelita and the others separate due to distance, moving for work, and the simple passage of time.

Time passes, the children grow up, and Terry enters and never leaves the girls have cooties stage, and both parents are blindsided when their thirteen year old comes out of the closet. Despite her surprise Aelita steps forward and wraps her son in lovingly arms and tells him that he is loved no matter what, and yet despite her comfort Terry can't help but notice how still his father had become.

The problem with geniuses is that when they make plans they expect to them to carried out fruition with little or no hiccups on the along the way. They align their ducks in a row and plan for the future they envision before their plans even begin. Furthermore the simple truth of the matter is that there are people who are simply unable to accept when their vision of the future has to adapted or be forged a new. And when Jeremy had his little boy he had envisioned a future where his son was a more socially aware genius, a future where his little boy had girlfriends, married a girl, and made him a grandfather.

His still surprise on his son's announcement is all he can do to prevent himself from screaming at the shattered image of the future and becomes the catalyst for end of Mr. and Mrs. Belpois. For all that Aelita loves her husband, loves Jeremy with a thousand suns, she can't, she refuses to let his silent condemnation against her beloved boy suffocated Terry's bright flame. She gives him a choice try to understand that their son's sexually and at least attempt to understand that the only thing about their boy that has changed is that he'll have boyfriends, perhaps one day a husband, or she will do what she must to protect their son.

It is a calculation that Aelita saw as lighting a fire under Jeremy's butt to get him moving. To give Jeremy the push he needs to confront the current present and accept that the envisioned future had changed. However for all she loved him and knew Jeremy, she did never understand that Jeremy didn't liked, loathes, being given ultimatums.

At fourteen years old Terry Belpois becomes another child of divorce and chooses to live with his accepting loving mother over the silent judgment he feels coming from his father. At fifteen he attends a Pride Event attend event and scores a date with a very cute boy named Selim Stern. Terry doesn't understand his mother's surprise and Selim is mystified by his stoic wonderful, loving, kind, and accepting father sudden bark of laughter.

While the boy's go on their first date, the adults have an awkward and yet heartwarming reunion. Hands reach out Jeremy, for a return to the fold, for a chance to start anew but seeing Terry and Selim declaring themselves boyfriends is too much for Jeremy to handle. Unknown to the others Jeremy unwilling to admit fault with himself or even his son has taken to privately blaming Selim for his end of his friendships with the gang. Thus seeing the boy he blames dating his son, living proof of his inability to accept his son's homosexuality causes him to snap.

In end Jeremy is lucky he only tossed out by Odd before Ulrich got his hands on him, Terry develops issues and goes through a period of blaming himself for his parent's divorce and the breaking of friendships, until Selim helps him through all his issues. Somehow Selim having his father's sense of humor helps the situation. Like any couple they hit a rough patch here and there and in the end make it to the altar.

An invitation is sent to Jeremy, who stands on the edge of two paths. He can attend, make an honest effort to reconnect, he can show that his love for his son outweighs how he feels uncomfortable with it all. Or he can reject the invitation, refuse to attend and forsake old bonds. He's standing on the knife edge, two paths before him, and a choice must be made. One where she attends, one where she doesn't, one where he admits his wrong, and one clings to his pride, his inability to admit being wrong.

The invitation falls from his hands and Jeremy in another victim of the folly of pride.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_ Somehow musing who between Jeremy and Ulrich were more prideful turned into this.


End file.
